Big turnout for the little Texan: Ron Paul at the U

If you think speeches attacking the U.S. Federal Reserve couldn’t excite a Friday night crowd on a college campus, think again.

About 2,000 people — students and older adults who were in the majority — filled Northrop Auditorium at the University of Minnesota to cheer libertarian Rep. Ron Paul, a Texas Republican, as he joined Rep. Michele Bachmann to preach the gospel of a less powerful federal government.

Before Bachmann, R-Minn., introduced Paul, she hailed legislation of his that would require a detailed audit of the Fed. The crowd jumped to its feet and roared approval.

When she described the Fed’s actions helping the banking industry as “shrouded in secrecy,” one man jumped up and yelled, “Ponzi scheme!”

Paul came onstage to a standing ovation, and he quickly denounced the government’s actions in dealing with the financial crisis. He also touched on themes popular with advocates of less government. He criticized gun control and deplored government initiatives to restrict smoking. He said U.S. foreign policy could lead to another military draft.

“We ought to have a right to keep what we earn, which means there would be no income tax,” he said, to hearty applause.